Obama Heads to Capitol Hill for GOP Senate Meeting

SAUL LOEB/AFP/Getty Images(WASHINGTON) — President Obama is coming to Capitol Hill next week to meet with Republicans in hopes of making some progress on the budget impasse.

The visit with Senate Republicans, during their weekly lunch meeting on Thursday, March 14, comes when the White House is reaching out to Republicans on the Hill amid the partisan gridlock that has snarled Washington, disrupting functions from passport control at airports to meat inspections.

Obama’s chief of staff requested the meeting, Hill aides confirm.

“Senate Republicans welcome the president to the Capitol. And I appreciate he took my recommendation to hear from all of my members,” Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell said in a statement Wednesday. “We have numerous challenges facing the country and Republicans have offered the president serious solutions to shrink Washington spending and grow the economy. And we will have an opportunity to discuss them with the president at the lunch.”

Over the weekend, Obama made calls to numerous Republican senators, the White House confirmed. And on Wednesday evening at the White House, the president will dine with a select and small group of GOP senators.